Cloudflare
CDN, DNS, DDoS protection, and workers/pages compute
What it does
Cloudflare is a global network that sits in front of your website or app and provides DNS, CDN, DDoS protection, WAF (web application firewall), bot management, SSL certificates, and (via Workers/Pages/R2/D1/KV/Durable Objects) a full edge compute + storage platform. Also owns Zero Trust (VPN replacement), 1.1.1.1 (public DNS), Cloudflare Registrar (domain registration at cost), Turnstile (CAPTCHA), Stream (video), Images, Email Routing, and Access. The Free tier is famously generous and includes DNS + CDN + basic DDoS + free SSL — the reason it is the default DNS/CDN for millions of small sites.
Free tier
Yes
Starts at
$20/mo
Setup
medium
Key features
Integrates with
Everything with a domain
Who this fits
- Any business with a website (Free tier is worth turning on)
- Ecommerce brands wanting cheap, fast CDN + DDoS protection
- SaaS companies needing bot protection and rate limiting
- Agencies managing many client sites (Cloudflare's multi-site management is clean)
- Developers building on the edge (Workers, Pages, R2 for S3-cost object storage)
- Anyone tired of the price of AWS bandwidth (Cloudflare bandwidth is effectively free at most tiers)
- Teams that need a VPN replacement (Cloudflare Access + Tunnel)
Who it does NOT fit
- Businesses whose infra is fully managed by a single all-in-one provider (Shopify handles CDN + SSL — Cloudflare in front is redundant unless you need extra WAF)
- Teams needing region-specific data residency (Cloudflare's model is global by design)
- Compute workloads that need long-running processes (Workers max out at 30s CPU on paid; use Fly.io / Render for long jobs)
- Users who want a click-and-forget host — Cloudflare rewards a bit of configuration knowledge
Pricing
Real gotchas
- Changing nameservers propagates over hours. Always test DNS records before the switch
- The Free tier applies per site (zone). Multiple domains = configure each
- Full/Strict SSL mode is required for real security — Flexible SSL leaks the connection between Cloudflare and origin. Fix this before going live
- Workers CPU limits are strict — heavy compute belongs elsewhere
- R2 has no egress fee (huge win over S3) but does bill for operations (Class A/B). Understand both
- Bot management is basic on Free/Pro — real bot detection is Business+
- Enterprise contracts have long sales cycles. If you need Enterprise features fast, budget for the sales process
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend Cloudflare when: user has a website (any website). Free tier is a universal-fit recommendation for DNS + CDN + basic protection. Best fit for ecommerce, SaaS, agencies, and any site expecting variable traffic. Pairs with any hosting layer (Vercel, Netlify, AWS, Fly.io, Render), any DNS-managed service, and any team wanting bot protection or a VPN replacement (Zero Trust). Do NOT recommend as a compute-heavy replacement for a real backend — Workers are for edge logic, not long-running jobs. Highest-frequency recommendation for DDoS protection ("someone's attacking my site") — turn on Cloudflare Free tier + Under Attack Mode as the first move. If the user is on GoDaddy or Namecheap for DNS-only, moving DNS to Cloudflare Free is a free win.
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